


Reward

by Petruschin



Category: History Boys (2006), History Boys - Bennett
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 19:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11043192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Petruschin/pseuds/Petruschin





	Reward

“The sun’s almost down. Won’t be long now.” Dakin mumbled sleepily into the warmth of Irwin’s neck. Their room was silent and dormant in its half-darkness, and even the dust that lay on the books or floated static through the air seemed to be waiting.  
“Yeah, only about twelve more hours.” Irwin huffed as he checked his watch and rubbed his eyes, the other hand coming up to play in Dakin’s hair slowly.  
Dakin hummed a small noise of content at the touch, and placed a kiss on the side of Irwin’s neck. “Do you think you’ll get any sleep tonight?”  
“I haven’t slept properly in weeks, so I’m not counting on it tonight. That reminds me-” Irwin said lazily as he leaned over to his bedside table to grab his sleeping pills, Dakin uttering a low complaint at the loss of touch.  
Irwin settled back into Dakin’s arms after he popped the bottle back down. He gave Dakin a slow, tempting kiss, to which his boyfriend responded in equal teasing enthusiasm before Irwin broke away with a groan. “I feel like such an old man right now.”  
“Why?” Dakin questioned with a quiet laugh.  
“Because I really need to settle down to sleep.” Irwin said with one hand over his eyes as he laid back on his pillow.  
“That’s okay, big day tomorrow.” Dakin quipped. “As long as I know you are secretly dying for it.”  
Irwin laughed once again before the room fell to silence, the consciousnesses of both men descending into the approaching night’s dust. Dakin was on the brink of sleep when Irwin whispered into the darkness – “I love you, you know.”  
Dakin could sense the worry in the other man’s voice. The restless nights, the longer hours spent at work, the less frequent sex- Irwin was becoming increasingly anxious that Dakin would lose interest, and Dakin could tell. In fact, Dakin thought he had no idea why he hadn’t gotten bored, lost interest, or ever would, for that matter. Except he did know why;  
“I love you too, you sod.” And before he could think himself out of it, he added, “And I am so proud of you. Tomorrow is going to be great, it’s everything you deserve, okay?”  
All at once, even perhaps for just a few minutes, all the self-doubt, the feelings of being a fraud, a fake, undeserving or even a cheat, that Irwin had felt his whole life, simply washed away completely with those words. Tom was happy, Tom was complete. He gave Dakin one last kiss through the dusty darkness, and for the first time in weeks, slipped easily into wonderful sleep.

———————————————————————————————–

As they both sat down amongst the crowd the next morning, awaiting the moment in which Irwin was to called up on stage, Dakin placed his hand rather high up on Irwin’s thigh. Irwin said nothing immediately, only smiled a low smile and gave the hand a rather curious look.  
“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Dakin began, leaning over to talk into Irwin’s ear so that they could not be heard by the surrounding congregation. “How history happens. I mean, we’ve come full circle. We started off by you getting me into this place, and now they are giving you a bloody award.” Irwin gave a smile at this, one that indicated to Dakin just how much his proximity was having an effect on him. “Are you nervous?” Dakin asked.  
Irwin didn’t exactly know whether Dakin was referring to the fingers that were now slowly stroking Irwin’s thigh, or whether it was because he was about to go on stage to receive an award for the research he had been working on for months. He decided it was probably- hopefully- the latter, and uttered a “Yes.”  
“Well, don’t be.” Dakin drew back in order to look into Irwin’s eyes, and smiled. “I love you.” He repeated.  
“Thank you,” Irwin breathed, chest rising a little from the mixture of emotions pressed into this moment.  
“Also,” Dakin whispered, as he returned to Irwin’s ear, “I am going to give you the biggest shagging of your life after this, Mr. Professor.”  
Irwin shuddered a little, and elongated his neck on instinct. Gathering his wits, he mumbled in muted tones, “I didn’t know you were that way inclined.”  
Dakin let out a rather loud laugh at this, drawing some attention from two middle-aged women. “Oh, I am.” He mumbled in reply, with a biggest, smuggest grin on his face he could muster.  
And as Irwin looked at Dakin from the stage, holding his award and looking the happiest Dakin had ever seen him, both of them knew that coming full circle was the best thing that could have happened to them both. Their history had happened, was happening, invasions and conquerors and wars and all the rest they had known through and through. And here they rested, in the aftermath, in the dust. Totally complete.


End file.
